LONDON, November 26. /TASS/. The United Kingdom delivered dozens of Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine a few weeks ago for the first time during the tenure of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
According to the news agency, the delivery was not publicly announced, along with the information on the exact number of missiles and the date of their arrival in Ukraine. At the same time, Bloomberg pointed out that the missiles were sent before the US and UK authorization to use long-range precision-guided weapons to launch strikes from Ukrainian territory deep into Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had earlier announced that they would authorize Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons to hit inside Russia, after which American and British missiles struck Russian military facilities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions. He said that Russia responded to those attacks by firing Russia's newest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead at a Ukrainian defense industry facility, the Yuzhmash plant in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk). The Russian leader emphasized that the West's provocative policies could have dire consequences if they further escalate the conflict.